Southampton: Jos Buttler made a dashing 77 not out as England beat Australia by six wickets for a series-clinching win in the second Twenty20 international at Southampton on Sunday.
Victory saw England take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in a three-match contest and they will replace Australia at the top of the global T20 standings with another win at Southampton on Tuesday.
England, set 158 to win, finished on 158-4 with seven balls to spare.
They needed 18 off the last two overs. Australia had failed to score 19 off two overs in a dramatic two-run defeat in the first game on Friday.
But England got there in five balls from Adam Zampa, with Moeen Ali hitting a six and a four off successive deliveries from the leg-spinner.
Buttler finished the match with a huge straight six off Zampa.
Buttler faced just 54 balls, including eight fours and two sixes, for his highest score in a T20 international, surpassing 73 not out against Sri Lanka at Southampton four years ago.
– ‘Pretty comprehensive’ –
Victory was set up by England’s bowlers, who held Australia to a modest 157-7 after the tourists had won the toss.
“Pretty comprehensive, I can’t really fault many facets of the game today,” England captain Eoin Morgan told Sky Sports after the match.
“We put in a better bowling performance; we asked the guys to stand up in the first six overs and they did.
“Having a world-class player like Buttler, in form as he is, makes that chase a lot easier.”
Australia captain Aaron Finch acknowledged the quality of opener Buttler’s innings, saying: “When you fail to get one of the opposition openers out, who is a great player, that is always going to be tough.”
Finch added: “We were probably a few runs short of where we needed to be, but I felt if we could match their powerplay with ours with the ball, we’d be in with a shot but we didn’t take enough wickets in that period.”
